Geno on Mo'ne Davis: "She could have come down and I would have gotten her in at the 5-minute mark."

PHILADELPHIA — Mo'ne Davis, the celebrated star of the Little League World Series and avowed UConn women's basketball fan, attended Sunday's game at Temple and was sitting in the bleachers across from the UConn bench.

"Was she here?" Geno Auriemma joked. "I wish I had known. She could have come down [to the bench] and I would have gotten her in at the 5-minute mark."

Davis, now in eighth grade, was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press after being the first Little League player to make the cover of Sports Illustrated.

She made national news not only for her ability as a baseball player with the Taney Dragons, but for walking around Williamsport, Pa., with a UConn sweatshirt and telling everyone that her dream was to play point guard for Auriemma.

When Auriemma contacted her at the World Series on a behalf of a friend, to congratulate her, the gesture was reported to the NCAA by the SEC on behalf of Vanderbilt as a recruiting violation.

PHILADELPHIA — Watching UConn flatten East Carolina last week at the XL Center, the untrained eye could have concluded that all was well with the major brand name of women's college basketball.

As it turns out, that would have been a premature assumption based solely on the numbers, which is not...

PHILADELPHIA — Watching UConn flatten East Carolina last week at the XL Center, the untrained eye could have concluded that all was well with the major brand name of women's college basketball.

As it turns out, that would have been a premature assumption based solely on the numbers, which is not...

(JOHN ALTAVILLA)

Auriemma was eventually smacked with a secondary violation.

When asked last week what he might do if Davis showed up, Auriemma was characteristically humorous.

"I'm hoping she's at the game so I can say hello to her. I'm going to go right up to her and say, 'Hi, how are you doing? Congratulations on a hell of a summer.' Even if she has her UConn sweatshirt on.

"And I might even tell Tonya [Temple coach Cardoza] that she's coming into our locker room and I'm going to give her some UConn gear to take home. I'm warning everyone out there that I will be cheating my butt off once I get to Philly.

UConn defeated Temple 83-49 on Sunday afternoon in an AAC women's basketball game in Philadelphia.

"Or I may pretend I don't even know who she is, so if she comes up to me and says hello. I might just ask her if I can buy a Chevy from her."

It was clear that those sitting near the young star knew who she was. At the half, she stopped to pose for a few photos with well-wishers and fans. But it didn't appear she was wearing her trademark UConn sweatshirt.

Moriah Jefferson has been nominated for the third annual Dawn Staley Award, which honors the nation's top guard. Staley is the coach of the top-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, who play UConn next Monday at Gampel Pavilion.

The winner is announced on Final Four weekend. Baylor's Odyssey Sims was last year's winner.

Stokes Still Blocking

Four days after recording only the fourth triple-double in UConn history, and the first combining points, rebounds and blocked shots, Kiah Stokes swatted another seven on Sunday, raising her season total to 100. Rebecca Lobo's single-season program record is 131, set in 1993-94.

"She's one of those players, you look at her body, you look at her skill set and wonder why she doesn't score 20 points a game. I think she could, if she wanted to," Cincinnati coach Jamelle Elliott said. "I see no reason why she couldn't [produce] a double-double consistently."

Auriemma, who has constantly urged Stokes to be more aggressive offensively, suggests one of the big keys to Stokes' defensive success is her finesse, the ability to properly position her body to avoid contact and foul trouble.

"We're at the point that when they called a foul on her [against East Carolina on Wednesday], I commented that when I looked at the film I'd find it wasn't [a foul]," Auriemma said. "They said Kiah hit the [shooter] on the arm. Well, Kiah always gets to the ball when it leaves the shooter's hand. Just the fact there was even a foul called was a surprise. That's how in sync she is right now." … Auriemma says of all his bench players who play the most minutes, the one who has made the biggest jump, in terms of development over the past month, is freshman Gabby Williams.

True To Her Teams

Temple coach Tonya Cardoza, a die-hard Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics fan, remembers having many spirited debates with Auriemma about his Philadelphia sports passions durng her 14 seasons (1994-2008) as a UConn assistant.

But one thing, in particular, stands out in her mind.

"Geno was always one to jump on the bandwagon, especially when it came to the Red Sox. Sometimes he wanted to be a Red Sox fan, sometimes he wants to be a Phillies fan, sometimes he roots for the Yankees. He's not that way with the Patriots, but I think he just enjoys good football. Jamelle was never that way: She was always for her Redskins. She never jumped ship — like Geno." ... The Huskies have won at least 20 games every season since 1992-93, when they were 18-11.